Cetacean situation at the Vancouver Aquarium still stifled by Park Board decision
Posted October 5, 2017 10:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver Aquarium has sent experts to help a beluga whale calf off the coast of Alaska. The animal is a member of the critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga population, which has only 328 animals left.
Earlier this year the Park Board said the marine centre couldn’t hold any more cetaceans after a pair of deaths.
The centre’s head veterinarian says that ruling probably wouldn’t apply to this case anyway.
“It probably is not an option in the short term. That animal is quite critical and it is not a candidate for long transport,” says Dr Martin Haulena.
He says there are cases where the aquarium could help save lives.
“Normally we would offer any care that we could. Perhaps as an intermediate home for an animal that needs longer term care or a permanent home, yeah we would be a fantastic place for that.”
He says the goal of everyone in the Aquarium is still to help out animals whenever they can.
